Dishtionary

Servings: 8 cups 

Did you know about 90 million chicken wings are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday? 90 million!  To be perfectly honest, I never really cared much for the bird wing. I mean, if we’re going to rid the poor things of their wings, we better just enjoy the sum of its parts. No? Not to mention, the bird wing is small. The bird wing has tons of bones and skin. The bird wing, when you finally get to the meat of it, well, it doesn’t really give you much meat at all. But, don’t take me for a fool. I know what’s delicious about buffalo chicken wings. It’s those saucy, spicy, blue cheesy bites.  But, why limit ourselves to the few nibbles of a wing? If you really want to enjoy those saucy, spicy, blue cheesy moments, make this Deliciously Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip. Turn nibbles into mouthfuls.  Do it!  

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 carrots, diced
• 4 celery ribs, diced
• 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup buffalo wing sauce
• 1 cup ranch salad dressing
• 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese

Steps

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

(2) Sauté carrots & celery until slightly softened, but don’t totally rid it of all “crunch.”

(3) Add the cream cheese and melt until smooth.

(4) Turn heat off and incorporate wing sauce, ranch dressing, and shredded chicken.

(5) Mix well.

(6) Transfer to serving dish.

(7) Sprinkle with blue cheese.

(8) Bake until bubbly and warm throughout.  

(9) Eat with crackers & veggies!

My friend, Anna, from Get Stuffed, challenged me to a grilled cheese cook-off. Check out her dish here and vote for the one you’d most like to devour!

Makes 4 Sandwiches.

It may be bold, but I can confidently say that there’s nothing more delicious than that classic grilled cheese.  What with its gooey, melty cheesiness encompassed in that toasty bread crispiness.  Yep, undoubtedly there is nothing more delicious than a grilled cheese.  That is, except for, maybe, the classic French Onion Soup.  Oh, please let’s not forget that French Onion Soup!  What with its sweet and savory steaming spoonfuls - it’s really quite something too.  But really, when you think about them, those two classic dishes, they have so much in common.  The toasty bread.  The gooey cheese.  Honestly, I don’t think the French Onion Soup wants anything more than to escape its beefy broth for a day and mingle in between two slices of bread.  So, French Onion Soup, today is the day I will do you that favor.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 4 onions, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup beef broth
• 8 Thick Slices of Country White Bread
• 1/2 pound grated Gruyere

Steps

(1)  Melt butter in pot over medium heat.

(2) Add onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, sugar, salt, and pepper and sauté until onions are soft and caramelized (roughly 30 minutes).

(3) Stir in the wine, bringing the mixture to a boil and then simmer until the wine has evaporated.

(4) Incorporate the beef broth and let it simmer until the broth is somewhat evaporated.  

(5) Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.  

(6) On a preheated griddle or large skillet, place a slice of buttered bread (butter-side down) and top it with some Gruyere. Add 1/4 of the onion mixture and then more of the cheese. Top with a second slice of buttered bread.

(7) Repeat Step 6 to assemble the rest of the sandwiches.

My brother celebrated his birthday this weekend and as you can see by the number shaped inside the cake, it was quite the milestone.  True, he turned 30, but believe it or not, his favorite cake was Carvel’s Ice-Cream cake.  I admit, I fondly remember how much I enjoyed the Carvel Ice-Cream cake in my youth, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to get one.  Maybe it was the neon blue icing that Carvel uses - the kind that stains the teeth - or maybe its my do-it-yourself-if-you can attitude, but whatever the reason, I decided to give the whole ice-cream cake making thing a shot.  And it was while I was brainstorming, when it struck me that it would be pretty darn cool if I could somehow construct the number “30” out of some cake pieces.  I’d never seen anything like it before.  I’m none too good with geometry, so I didn’t really plan out how all the pieces would fit together, but luckily the numbers came to life and every slice became an inescapable reminder of just exactly what we were celebrating.  

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 3 1/2 quarts (about) vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
• Oreo Cookies (crumbled)

Steps

(1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 15x10x1-inch baking sheet; line with parchment. Butter parchment.

(2) Whisk first 4 ingredients in large bowl.

(3) Melt butter in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips; stir until melted.

(4) Whisk in 3/4 cup water, cocoa, and vanilla until blended.

(5) Whisk in egg.

(6) Add to dry ingredients; whisk to blend.

(7) Pour batter onto prepared baking sheet.

(8) Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 22 minutes.

(9) Cool cake on baking sheet on rack 15 minutes.

(10) Turn cake out onto sheet of foil; cool. Cut cake crosswise into 3 equal strips and then cut strips in half so that there is 6 equal sized pieces.  Take 3 of the pieces and cut those in half.  In total, there should be 3 large pieces and 6 smaller pieces.

(11) Freeze cake strips 1 hour.

(12) Assemble the cake pieces while quickly filling in the with icecream so as to resemble the number “30” - or use the cake strips in such a way to reflect the appropriate age of the person celebrating a birthday.

(13) Spread enough remaining ice cream over top and sides of cake to cover generously.

(14) Sprinkle oreo crumbles on top.

(15) Freeze until firm, about 3 hours.

2 Servings

Zucchini Crostini Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 onion (diced)
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
• 1/2 zucchini (grated)
• Ricotta Cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• Bread, toasted and sliced

Campanelle Alfredo Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 onion (diced)

• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 lb chicken breast (sliced)
• Handful of broccoli florets
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 pound dried campanelle pasta (or dried pasta of your choice)

Zucchini Crostini Steps

(1) In a skillet sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions are soft and translucent such that you could shovel bucket loads into your mouth without forming a single tear. 

(2) Add the grated zucchini until they become delicate, juicy and delicious. 

(3) Meanwhile, lather your toasted bread with that creamy, white ricotta cheese.  I used homemade ricotta (just boil up some milk add a little vinegar, drain the curds and voila!), but obviously store bought will do the trick.

(4) Top the cheese with the zucchini mixture.

(5) Set aside while you make the pasta OR be impatient and eat it while you make the pasta.

Campanelle Alfredo with Broccoli & Chicken Steps

(1) In a sauce pan sauté the onion & garlic as you did with the crostini. 

(2) Splash in the chicken stock and reduced.

(3) Add the chicken breast slices and flip around until cooked and golden.

(4) Throw in those miniature green tree-like oddities of life (broccoli) until they soften.

(5) In a separate pot, boil some water and cook the dried pasta until al dente.

(6) Now its cream time.  That’s right.  Cream. Time.  Mix in that milky, white, beautiful cream into the sauce pan.  Stir and smile as it comes to a slight simmer.

(7) Throw in the cheese.  Throw in that darn cheese!  And stir, stir, STIR until a thick delicious sauce forms.

(7) Finally, let your pasta be the slut she wants to be.  How’s that?  You might be asking.  Let your pasta be the slut she wants to be by incorporating that slutty pasta into the sauce and swirl, swirl, SWIRL until she has sufficiently mingled with the cream sauce.  

Please “LIKE” my dish at the following link - http://pinterest.com/pin/398850110718845867/ - so that I can WIN Fabio’s Kitchen Academy Challenge #3!  

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant
• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup tomato puree
• salt, pepper, oregano to taste
• 1/2 pound dried pasta
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• grated parmigiana  

Steps

(1) Split that purple goddess of an eggplant in two. 

(2) Bake her at 400F for 30 minutes.

(3) Meanwhile, sauté onions and garlic in a sauce pan.

(4) Splash in 1/2 cup chicken stock and let it reduce.

(5) Add 1 cup tomato puree.

(6) Taste it.  Add some salt, pepper, and oregano.

(7) Let that baby simmer.

(8) Bring a pot of water to a boil and add dried pasta.

(9) Take the purple ladies out of the oven and scrape out most of her meaty belly, but leave enough to keep her elegant eggplant shape intact.

(10) Dice the eggplant meat before incorporating it into the tomato sauce.

(11) Drain the pasta. Toss the pasta into the eggplant tomato sauce.

(12) Reduce balsamic vinegar in a saucepan.

(13) Spoon the pasta and sauce into the eggplant shapes making her body voluptuous. Sprinkle the goddess with some parmigiana and diced cherry tomatoes. Drizzle the balsamic reduction on top. Dee-lish!

A unique contribution to your upcoming 4th of July barbecue.  

Ingredients

• 1 (28-oz) can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Steps

(1) Purée tomatoes (with juice) in a blender until smooth.

(2) In a 4 quart saucepan over medium-high heat, cook the onion in the oil until translucent.  

(3) Add the puréed tomatoes along with the other 7 ingredients to the saucepan and simmer, uncovered, stirring, occasionally, until very thick, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

(4) Carefully, pour the hot ketchup into the blender and purée until smooth.

(5) Chill, in an airtight container - I snagged this glass bottle from Sur La Table. 

Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

My basil plant was flourishing, so what better way to celebrate its life than to strip it of its leaves and make some dee-licious pesto sauce.  This is a simple and healthy recipe with versatile uses.  Mix it in pasta, use it as a sauce for meats, poultry, or fish, spread some on bread, or toss it with vegetables.  Yields 1 cup.  

Ingredients

• 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves, rinsed and dried
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Steps: Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.  Make sure to occasionally stop and scrap down the sides so as to fully incorporated all the ingredients.  

Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.